Chicopee worries about homelessness and panhandling; gives hundreds of thousands to police department

Another food-powered article because the transcript I'm working from is 3 hours long and takes 38,000 tokens to fit into context. Most large language models have a maximum context length of 32k. Gwen 2.5 claims it can handle 128k context, but I could not get it running as such. Chunking up the transcript didn't give me much better results for reasons I don't fully understand. Erroneous generated article in green below this one for a point of comparison. 

 Black font = CC-BY-4.0.

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Chicopee worries about homelessness and panhandling; gives hundreds of thousands to police department 

By Jonathan Gerhardson on November 14, 2024.

At the latest city council meeting on November 7, 2024, the Chicopee City Council unanimously approved a total of $365,463 in funding for the Chicopee Police Department. The bulk of these funds will be spent on body worn cameras, and bullet proof vests.

The council approved a $250,000 grant from the state to purchase body worn cameras. The grant covers the costs to purchase 140 cameras, according to Police Chief Patrick Major.

“That sum is going to cover the hardware only. That’ll cover the body cameras and the attachments for them and any other hardware, maybe cables. As far as software storage and the redaction services that comes along with that, that is an additional cost,” said Major.

Yesterday, Nov. 13, the council met in executive session to receive a presentation from the police department on its implementation of Fusus, a software platform from Axon Enterprise that connects networked security cameras to a real time crime center.

In addition to the body cameras, the police department will spend $53,000 on bullet proof vests, with $21,000 of that being funded by a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Justice.

A grant of $60,000 was accepted from the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to be spent on road safety.

“The Chief has said that he’s going to use it for additional patrol, focusing on road safety concerns, traffic pedestrian. He’s also going to use it for some bicycle training courses and other safety programs and equipment relating to pedestrian and bicycle safety,” said Councilor Labrie.

Finally, the council also approved acceptance of a grant from the City of Northampton’s Drug Addiction Recovery Team in the amount of $2,500. The funds will go towards helping those struggling with addiciton to “be counseled, in a sense, by our police officers,” said the mayor’s chief of staff Michael Pise.

An agenda item that would have amended the city’s code to add a section called “Offenses Against Public Peace” was postponed, due to questions over its legality. A draft of the amendment discussed by the Ordinance Committee in October

If the council were to approve a draft of the amendment discussed by the Ordinance Committee in October, it would create new prohibitions on loitering, panhandling, acting as a lookout for illegal activities, and throwing missiles on public ways, punishable by a fine of $50 to $500.

“This is a very tricky, slippery slope that we have to legally go through, so I’m going to be reaching out to the District Attorney’s Office to have them review it,” said Councilor William Courchesne.

“Unfortunately, the state considers, the Supreme Court says it’s freedom of speech, but the state allows them to stand in the middle of the road because that’s public property. So, as you can see now, that’s gonna be very difficult to manage,” said Courchesne.

On Tuesday,Brockton City Council voted to approve a similar measure to ban loitering and illegal camping.

The measures come in the wake of a June the United States Supreme Court ruling that laws against sleeping outside did not violate the Eighth Amendment, and a Nov. 2023 announcement by Governor Maura Healey that the state would no longer be guaranteeing emergency shelter to the homeless under the state’s Right-to-Shelter law.

During citizen speak time, a resident, whose name could not be understood in a recording of the meeting, expressed her concerns with the homeless in Chicopee. Referring to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts located at Carew and East Main Street, she stated that “one of the biggest concerns that we said was what would happen with the wetlands based upon this?"

“Well, now we have homeless camping in the wetlands,” she added.

Update: Andrew Morehouse, Executive Director for the food bank said that neighbors had alerted the food bank to the presence of a tent in the woods, but the police had determined it was abandoned. "It's a non-issue," said Morehouse.

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The following text was generated with a large language model. It contains numerous factual inaccuracies and is presented for educational purposes only. 

[Model: mixtral:8x7b / Temperature 0] 

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Chicopee City Council Approves Funding for Bulletproof Vests and Body Cameras

At the latest city council meeting on November 7, 2024, the Chicopee City Council unanimously approved funding for bulletproof vests and body-worn cameras for the police department. The decision comes as part of a broader effort to enhance public safety and improve community relations with law enforcement.

The council voted in favor of appropriating $32,500 from the stabilization account for the purchase of bulletproof vests. This allocation will allow the city to provide its officers with up-to-date protective gear, ensuring their safety while on duty. The funds will be used to replace existing vests that have reached the end of their lifespan or are otherwise no longer suitable for use.

In addition to the bulletproof vests, the council also approved acceptance of a grant from the City of Northampton for the DART program in the amount of $2,500. This grant will be used to support body-worn camera implementation and training for police officers. The cameras are expected to improve transparency, accountability, and trust between law enforcement and the community.

The council also approved acceptance of a grant for body-worn cameras for the police department in the amount of $249,932.70. This grant will be used to purchase and implement body-worn camera technology for the entire police force. The funds will cover the cost of cameras, equipment, storage, and training necessary for successful implementation.

The decision to invest in bulletproof vests and body-worn cameras follows a series of community discussions on public safety and policing practices. City officials have emphasized their commitment to ensuring the safety of both officers and civilians while fostering positive relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Chicopee Mayor, John Doe, expressed his gratitude for the council’s decision, stating, “Our police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect our community. Providing them with up-to-date protective gear and body-worn cameras is an essential step in ensuring their safety and maintaining trust with the public.”

The Chicopee Police Department has not yet announced a timeline for the implementation of the new bulletproof vests and body-worn cameras. However, officials have stated that they will work diligently to ensure a smooth rollout of these critical safety measures.